SCAPEGOATING RESEARCH & REMEDIES

CONSTRUCTIVE INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND NEUTRALIZING OF BLAME

The Scapegoat Society website

BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE SCAPEGOAT SOCIETY

The Scapegoat Society was formed in the autumn of 1997 for those concerned
with the dynamics of attributing blame to others - the core of scapegoating and
demonizing. The Scapegoat Society is a resource both for people who have
experienced being a scapegoat, and for people working professionally to resolve
scapegoat problems.

The age-old phenomenon of scapegoating shows up everywhere. It causes great
anxiety and misery. Scapegoats are found in almost every social context: in
school playgrounds, in families, in small groups, and in large organizations.
Whole nations may be scapegoated. The work of The Scapegoat Society
[non-profit] is to raise consciousness about scapegoating and its dynamics so
as to make it easier to resist and root out.

Merely to avoid awkwardness we use the masculine pronoun throughout. For the
convenience of search engines we use some American spellings.

DEFINING SCAPEGOATING

Scapegoating is a hostile social - psychological discrediting routine by
which people move blame and responsibility away from themselves and towards a
target person or group. It is also a practice by which angry feelings and
feelings of hostility may be projected, via inappropriate accusation, towards
others. The target feels wrongly persecuted and receives misplaced
vilification, blame and criticism; he is likely to suffer rejection from those
who the perpetrator seeks to influence. Scapegoating has a wide range of focus:
from "approved" enemies of very large groups of people down to the scapegoating
of individuals by other individuals. Distortion is always a feature.

FOR SCAPEGOAT TARGETS

First of all build an understanding of what has been going on, not just on
the surface, but deeper as well. What is your scapegoater really trying to
achieve? You can deepen your knowledge by studying the material on this site.
If you feel you need expert help and you live in the UK, you can look for a
therapist by using our links page. Ask your therapist for help with strategies
for undoing the scapegoating as well as for staying clear of being a scapegoat
in the future.

If you are not going to use a therapist then concentrate on understanding
what is going on between you and whoever is your scapegoater. Your awareness
may help to run down and stop the process. Make it clear that you have spotted
the mechanism and that you will talk freely about it until it stops - rather
than continue to be available as a scapegoater's target. Regrettably, The
Scapegoat Society is not able to offer direct help with episodes of
scapegoating but there is a page on undoing
scapegoating that is worth considering.

OUTLINE OF SCAPEGOATING PSYCHO-DYNAMICS

In scapegoating, feelings of guilt, aggression, blame and suffering are
transferred away from a person or group so as to fulfill an unconscious drive
to resolve or avoid such bad feelings. This is done by the displacement of
responsibility and blame to another who serves as a target for blame both for
the scapegoater and his supporters. The scapegoating process can be understood
as an example of the Drama Triangle concept [Karpman, 1968].

The perpetrator's drive to displace and transfer responsibility away from
himself may not be experienced with full consciousness - self-deception is
often a feature. The target's knowledge that he is being scapegoated builds
slowly and follows events. The scapegoater's target experiences exclusion,
ostracism or even expulsion.

In so far as the process is unconscious it is more likely to be denied by
the perpetrator. In such cases, any bad feelings - such as the perpetrator's
own shame and guilt - are also likely to be denied. Scapegoating frees the
perpetrator from some self-dissatisfaction and provides some narcissistic
gratification to him. It enables the self-righteous discharge of aggression.
Scapegoaters tend to have extra-punitive characteristics [Kraupl-Taylor,
1953].

Scapegoating also can be seen as the perpetrator's defense mechanism against
unacceptable emotions such as hostility and guilt. In Kleinian terms,
scapegoating is an example of projective identification, with the primitive
intent of splitting: separating the good from the bad [Scheidlinger, 1982]. On
another view, scapegoaters are insecure people driven to raise their own status
by lowering the status of their target [Carter, 1996].

HELP PUBLICIZE THE SCAPEGOAT SOCIETY

The Scapegoat Society spreads news about itself by asking people who find
these details of its work to pass them on to anyone who they think might be
interested. We think of these people, with gratitude, as our ambassadors.

FINANCES

The Scapegoat Society is a simple non-profit association; there are no
membership dues, committees, and so on. Instead, the Society simply invites
voluntary donations from supporters wanting to encourage its work and help it
to cover its expenses. No surplus is sought or accumulated, no bank interest is
earned. All funds received are strictly for conducting and promoting the work
of the Society.

THE SCAPEGOAT IN FICTION

du Maurier, D: The Scapegoat. London 1957.
The role of the scapegoat, for the sins of a French aristocrat and his family,
is thrust on a lonely English traveler, sparking a series of dramatic
reactions.

Pennac, D: The
Scapegoat. USA 1999.
About the trials of a professional scapegoat. Described as a charmingly jittery
guide to the mercantile post-modern. Set in Paris.

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